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First of all I was very impressed with the effort and creativity exhibited by the league and the players in promoting the sport outside of the game itself. On Saturday I went down to Regent Street which was closed off and had been completely taken over by NFL events and most importantly fans. Regent Street is home to the high end fashion shops but barely any of the reported 500,000 people were down there for shopping this Saturday. Many prominent Steelers and Vikings players as well as the coaches took time out of their preparations to come down to do interviews on stage. There was a great ovation for both teams and especially AD and Roethlisberger. Vince Lombardi trophy was there too so that was quite cool.
On Sunday there was a massive tailgate area around Wembley with loads of stuff going on and of course Wembley was a fantastic venue. Here are some photos from around Wembley more than 3 hours before kick off.
Into the stadium itself and you really can see why they chose Wembley for these games. It is an unbelievable structure and can be setup just perfectly for NFL. The fans were excellent, there were plenty of Steelers fans around (terrible towels in abundance) but there was a definite home team advantage. Clearly, we aren't that stupid any more and have figured out that it is a good idea to make as much noise as possible while the away team has possession. Of course, there were still lots of people there who weren't quite as savvy and it was quite ironic seeing the terrible towels waving along side the Vikings flags as people tried to get loud while the Steelers had the ball; in the end the purple and yellow mix made it look like something you would see in Minnesota. Anyway, here are some pre-game shots starting about 40 minutes before kick off, all taken from my seat in the very back row of the stadium; what a great view even from up there.
Probably the biggest thing I took away from going to the game (my first live NFL game) was just how much of a show you are missing on TV. My expectation was that the game would be the highlight and the constant TV breaks would just be something you have to put up with, but the NFL has really choreographed everything perfectly. Whether it's the incredibly corny Skol Viking song, or the Skol Drumline popping on for a quick routine, or a quick video clip on the big screen, there really are very few moments when you are just sitting there with nothing to watch. Kudos to the NFL product for turning a weakness into a strength.
On a final note, I said pre-game that all I wanted was a Vikings cover
a Jared Allen sack (he got plenty) and a long Peterson TD. I got all three. Peterson goes down as probably the best NFL player and one of the best sportsmen to ever play at Wembley and we are all incredibly grateful over here to the NFL for bringing these superstars much closer to us. Speaking of the great one, here he is lined up at tail back on what nearly turned out to be a trademark TD. The final shot is from the game losing drive, suck it Pittsburgh.
On Sunday there was a massive tailgate area around Wembley with loads of stuff going on and of course Wembley was a fantastic venue. Here are some photos from around Wembley more than 3 hours before kick off.
Into the stadium itself and you really can see why they chose Wembley for these games. It is an unbelievable structure and can be setup just perfectly for NFL. The fans were excellent, there were plenty of Steelers fans around (terrible towels in abundance) but there was a definite home team advantage. Clearly, we aren't that stupid any more and have figured out that it is a good idea to make as much noise as possible while the away team has possession. Of course, there were still lots of people there who weren't quite as savvy and it was quite ironic seeing the terrible towels waving along side the Vikings flags as people tried to get loud while the Steelers had the ball; in the end the purple and yellow mix made it look like something you would see in Minnesota. Anyway, here are some pre-game shots starting about 40 minutes before kick off, all taken from my seat in the very back row of the stadium; what a great view even from up there.
Probably the biggest thing I took away from going to the game (my first live NFL game) was just how much of a show you are missing on TV. My expectation was that the game would be the highlight and the constant TV breaks would just be something you have to put up with, but the NFL has really choreographed everything perfectly. Whether it's the incredibly corny Skol Viking song, or the Skol Drumline popping on for a quick routine, or a quick video clip on the big screen, there really are very few moments when you are just sitting there with nothing to watch. Kudos to the NFL product for turning a weakness into a strength.
On a final note, I said pre-game that all I wanted was a Vikings cover
a Jared Allen sack (he got plenty) and a long Peterson TD. I got all three. Peterson goes down as probably the best NFL player and one of the best sportsmen to ever play at Wembley and we are all incredibly grateful over here to the NFL for bringing these superstars much closer to us. Speaking of the great one, here he is lined up at tail back on what nearly turned out to be a trademark TD. The final shot is from the game losing drive, suck it Pittsburgh.
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